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The Humboldt County Commercial Cannabis Cultivation unit sent out about 470 letters to growers who allegedly are in non-compliance with county regulations. An area grow consultant said that authorities “carpet bombed our community again,” a quote area media outlets are describing as extreme or exasperated.
John Ford, who oversees the program funded by taxpayer money, says this comes as a response to people in the community asking for the courtesy of a warning letter before sending out SWAT teams at the expense of thousands to the taxpayers on top of tens of thousands of dollars a day in fines to the growers.
Comments on local media outlet websites express serious opposition with one community resident saying "the details of permitting for small farms is finally being presented to the public in a less obscure manner" then going on to say that it "looks very grim!". The same resident explained that "Cannabis is far and away the number one source of income in our county. There will be no one here except some park service employees and a handful or retired people."
The Redhead Blackbelt lays out the details of the letter sent to residents and the background of the regulatory changes:
Courtesy Notice, Politely Written
The letters note that the County has observed activity they believe is cannabis cultivation. Ford says the letters are a request for a response. He said, “If it isn’t [marijuana cultivation,] contact us and tell us that. If it is, the County expects it to stop or [for the farmer to] get a permit and become legal.”
The letters in part read,
“You are receiving this letter as a courtesy to inform you of what appears to have been an unpermitted commercial cannabis cultivation operation on your parcel. A county land use permit and a state license are both required to legally cultivate cannabis in Humboldt County, and our records indicate that neither exist for this property. While the overall cultivation area appears to be relatively small, it still requires an appropriate permit. At this time you are not receiving a Notice to Abate Nuisance or a Notice of Violation. …. but your attention and action are required. You are encourage to take one of the following corrective actions. 1. Cease the cultivation operation and remove any unpermitted structures related to the cannabis cultivation. For any unpermitted grading, apply for and obtain an after-the-fact grading permit to restore natural or preexisting grades. 2. Should your goal be to commercially cultivate cannabis, cease all cultivation, apply for and receive the required permits and licenses to cultivate cannabis before you commence any future cultivation. For cultivation that existed prior to December 31 2015, there is still an opportunity before the end of the calendar year to apply for a “pre-existing” cultivation permit. It is a violation of County Code to cultivate cannabis without a permit. Code Enforcement staff will continue to monitor your property to confirm the cannabis operation footprint has been eliminated and that it does not appear in the 2020 cultivation season. If unpermitted cannabis operation persists or reappear in 2020, you will receive a Notice to Abate and a Notice of Violuation for an unpermitted activity. At this time there is no obligation or requirement to contact Code Enforcement staff to discuss this issue or any potential violations of County Code. If you have questions…you may contact the County Planning Department….”
Ford said that for the 2019 season, Code Enforcement was directed to only send Notices of Intent to Abate to sites where the cultivation appeared to be using more than 6,000 square feet. He said these warning letters are for landowners with the smallest grow sites.
Ford said all the informal warning letters went in one batch. No more are expected to be sent this season. However, Ford hopes these letters will strongly encourage everyone who is still cultivating without a permit to consider the 2.0 permitting option now because there is a deadline of December 31st to get permitted under that program.
Existing Facilities
Ford says the Planning Department’s Cannabis Services staff are fully dedicated to last minute applications for sites with pre-existing cultivation activity. People who want to cultivate on new sites, and those who miss the December 31 deadline, have to wait until the County has finished its CEQA Environmental review. Ford says this could take a few years.
The philosophy of CEQA is to be a tool to shepherd a bad situation into becoming a better situation. CEQA asks a business or an economic sector to name, explain, analyze and mitigate the environmental consequences of their economic activities.
Roughly speaking, because bringing a previously unregulated economic activity comes into regulation is seen to decrease environmental harms over time, CEQA exempts environmental review of “existing facilities.” Before the CEQA Environmental Impact Review begins, the County has given owners of existing cultivation facilities in the marijuana economic sector until December 31 to declare their intention to be recognized as an existing facility by applying for a county permit.
2.0 is only available to “existing cultivation sites.” Larger existing operations can get permitted under 2.0, Ford says, the process has been streamlined for cultivation areas smaller than 6,000 square feet with an even easier matrix for sites under 3,000 square feet. Although the website does not make that easily known.
Small Farmers Encouraged to Apply
Nonetheless, Ford says the 2.0 permits are much more streamlined for cultivation sites less than 6,000 square feet and even easier for sites less than 3,000 square feet. He says, that it is likely applicants with grow sites less than 3,000 square feet, who apply now, can be permitted in time for planting in Spring of 2020.
John Ford says, though, that these less than 3,000 square foot permits are going through at “top speed” and that roads assessments and some other items are not needed for cultivation sites under 3,000 square feet.
However, which requirements applicants from smaller farms do have to meet is not easily understood from the Cannabis Services website.